Buying a home in South Africa is one of the most significant financial decisions many people make. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned homeowner, your mortgage (also known locally as a home loan) is likely to be your largest long-term debt. Understanding how mortgage interest works — and how to pay less of it — can help you save hundreds of thousands of rand over time.

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There are many different types of loans and methods of calculating and repaying interest. Your home loan is quite possibly the longest loan commitment you will make, so it’s critical to understand how the interest is calculated over the life of the loan, and what each repayment is actually made up of.

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An Access Facility is an offset account linked to your home loan, that allows you to access any surplus funds that have accumulated in your home loan account by you paying more than the minimum monthly instalment and/or paying a lump sum into your account.

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